Persistence of Vision: The 21st-Century Film Criticism of Stanley Kauffmann

By Bert Cardullo

The 21st-Century Film Criticism of Stanley Kauffmann is a collection of film criticism by the late Stanley Kauffmann (1916-2013). Kauffmann's creative life spanned seven decades: starting in 1958 and continuing until 2013, he was a film and drama critic for The New Republic, The New York Times, and Saturday Review, among other publications. Along with Andrew Sarris, Pauline Kael, and John Simon, Kauffmann was one of the potent, influential critics included in the New York school of twentieth-century American criticism. In Persistence of Vision, Kauffmann discusses films from such countries as France, England, Mexico, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands, Argentina, Finland, Norway, Italy, Iran, Japan, Belgium, South Korea, China, Lebanon, Russia, Ireland, India, Greece, Chile, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, and the United States. Among the films reviewed are Michael Haneke's White Ribbon; Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds; the Dardenne brothers' Silence of Lorna; Ron Howard's Da Vinci Code; Woody Allen's Match Point; Barbet Schroeder's Our Lady of the Assassins; Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia; and Zhang Yimou's Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Also included are several reconsiderations of classic films (A Hard Day's Night and The Hired Hand, among others); remembrances of late, distinguished actors such as Wendy Hiller and Philippe Noiret; and reviews of important books like Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age, by George Stevens, Jr., and On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business, by David Mamet. The precision, wit, style, and wisdom of Kauffmann's writing chime in Persistence of Vision, as, once again, he reveals his sense of cultural mission-and love of all the arts-by applying to film the same high standards he applied during his long career to fiction, poetry, music, and theater.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1681140071
• ISBN13: 9781681140070
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: Anaphora Literary Press
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"